A word about my Dad. He’s awesome. He’s taught me a lot of things over the years: how to drive, pre-calculus, that you’ll never be bored if you have a book close at hand, and most pertinent to this blog, that good food can nurture the body, heart, soul, and relationships. I love you, Daddy.

My pops, he loves ice cream, and his favorite is peach ice cream. Of course, I can’t do things the easy way, so we spiced things up.

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Sometimes I forget that as a foodie, I speak a different language than non-foodies.
A real conversation I had 10 minutes ago:

Me: i’ll be up for a while, i just made a sandwich and i have ziti in the oven

Me: the ziti was originally to eat but its still half frozen, haha

Him: Man, I want to be there.

Me: you want to go to there?

Him: I MIGHT have half a bowl of cereal in the house.

Him: No, THERE. Where you are. You have food.

Me: i like having food in my house

Me: mostly because i dont like to plan ahead so i never know what i want to eat until i’m cooking

Him: I can’t keep too much food because I never cook like I intend to and it just goes to waste.

Me: well whatever your day off is, take 2 hours to do all your mies en place and make 2 casseroles and a fritatta

Me: and a roast chicken

Him: …

Him: You’ve exceeded my capabilities.

Me: divide the casseroles into 3 servings, an freeze 2 of each. that leaves you with 2 servings in your fridge and 4 in your freezer.

Me: the fritatta will get you through the week

Him: What’s a fritatta?

Me: eat the chicken wings, thighs, and legs with each meal, and slice the breasts for sandwiches and salads

Me: it’s an egg pie. like a quiche without a crust

Me: it was created as a way to use up leftovers

Me: so if you have a handful of potato, a little onion, a bit of red pepper. maybe a slice of bacon and the last of your shredded cheese. all of those things alone are not enough to fill you, but bind them with a few eggs and slice, and ka-pow, you have breakfast for the week

Him: …

Me: if you keep doing that i’m going to copy and paste this whole convo onto my blog

I’ve been thusly reminded that not everyone watches as much Top Chef (or 30 Rock) as I do. This blog should be enjoyed by everyone; I promise to use plainspeak as often as possible, friends. And if I forget, just give me a lengthy blank stare. I’ll catch on eventually.

Image credit: Serious Eats

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My environment tells me I’m not supposed to enjoy this.
I sat here for 30 minutes wondering what in my parents house I could even eat before giving in. I’m not in my safe zone in my apartment, where the “bad” things are not an option.

Whole wheat bread? You’re not supposed to eat bread at all. Cheese? Paleo says no dairy. That mayo isn’t fat free. How dare you even look at salami. Didn’t make that turkey yourself? The sodium in deli meat is through the roof.

The commercials ask “Doesn’t this look delicious?” before the news says ” Yeah, you can’t have it.” A neverending cycle of “nyah nyah nyah keepaway”.

Guilt is an emotion with diminishing returns. Shame is fruitless. Deprivation leads to depression. The theme for this blog has been and will continue to be Acknowledge Your Desires. Self awareness and self-acceptance is the road to health.

I’m at my parent’s house, where I am warm and safe and loved. I am eating a sandwich, and it’s delicious.

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I watch a lot (A LOT) of terrible television, but every once in a while I hear something that sticks with me. One such nugget of information is the phrase “We eat with our eyes first. ” So true, yet so many people choose to forget or ignore this fact. By the same token, it’s easy to focus on color and plating to the detriment of the food.

An aside – as I write this, Palladia is showing a concert of Elvis Costello and the Imposters. Costello has style and substance. Not conventionally handsome, but the man can rock a purple velvet blazer and Buddy Holly glasses like none other.

A long time ago I read a piece on why the phrase “food pornography” as relates to photographs on cooking blogs should be banished… and it made me mad. Like, really, just excessively, irrationally angry. First of all, it’s a totally tongue in cheek phrase, so chill with the sanctimony. That apple pie is not being oppressed or exploited; it’s just doing it’s job, lookin’ delicious. Secondly, the term speaks to the very nature of why people indulge in porn in the first place – desire. All photography should make you feel something, and when food photography is done correctly, that feeling should be overwhelmingly be desire. The synapses should start to fire, igniting the senses until you can taste the flavors on your tongue, feel the textures on your lips, smell the layers of spice and sweet surrounding you, reminding you of some long lost memory or begging you to create a new one.

In short, if it doesn’t look good, I don’t want it. (Yes, that rule applies equally for cookies and men.) I don’t care how good you say it is for me, umpteen images of mush in a bowl is not making me hungry. Don’t tell me how good it tastes, show me.

One of my favorite blogs, Pioneer Woman, did an excellent post with hints and tips. Taking Photos of Food – 8 Helpful Tips . Photographing food is not so different than photographing skin – warmth without washing out, and “detail in the highlights and shadows” (thanks Dad).

But I digress; as I was saying, style and substance are two halves of a whole. When you get what you want, it’s got to live up to what you’ve imagined.

Don’t be afraid to want, friends And when you get it, I hope you’re sated and satisfied. I promise a steady stream of good music and food porny photos to help inspire.

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So I’ve been thinking about starting a blog for a while, mostly so I can stop talking about food on my Facebook page. Why is this called “Stumbling To Yum”? Well, a few reasons. One, I had another another, cooler name which some dude signed up for on literally every blog service in 2008 thinking he was going to be the next Rachel Ray and made exactly one post. Two, I love to cook and bake but a combination of hubris and laziness generally keep me from following recipes as they are written. Sometimes this leads to stunning success but more often I land on the failure spectrum. Three, I’ve stumbled onto a great many yummy things without really trying; jobs, relationships, makeup on sale. I might mention these things if I think they’ll be of interest.

Back to the food thing – writing a cooking blog with with half-assed moderately adjusted versions of other people’s recipes may seem rather pointless, but at the very least I hope it gives anyone who reads some inspiration. Because “a pinch of that, a spash of this” may not be helpful if you want to try yourself, i’ll always link back to the original recipe and aim to stick to the following format for each step of the process:

Color
Flavor(s)
Texture
Mouthfeel

In addition to discussing what I make, i’ll also discuss technique, food philosophy, and favorite places. I’ve got a lot of ideas, friends. Lets give it a go, shall we?